BCCI will go bankrupt if IPL 2017 is not held, says reports

What’s the story?

The BCCI could go bankrupt if the ongoing battle between the Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) and the state associations continues and the latter decides not to stage IPL games.

“If they even think of touching the IPL, it'll be a disaster. Consider this: Even for the sake of an argument, if the 2017 IPL is not held, BCCI will incur losses in excess of Rs 2500 crore. It'll be bankrupt," a BCCI official told Cricbuzz.

In case you did not know

Each staging association is given Rs 60 lakh per IPL game. Of this, 30 lakhs come from the BCCI and the rest of it from the IPL franchise. The money is then spent on the games, practice, floodlights, ground preparation, ground staff etc.

For the last few years, the associations have been getting an advance from the board and the rest of the payment flows in through the course of the tournament and later. But things are not the same this time around as the Supreme Court last year had stated that no BCCI funds are ought to be released to state associations unless they fell in line and adopted the Lodha Commission reforms.

The heart of the matter

As a result, the Test, ODI and T20I series against New Zealand, England, Bangladesh and Australia were in jeopardy as the state associations declared they cannot bear such huge expenses. The Supreme Court immediately granted relief, saying that payment could be made to state associations specifically for hosting the matches, and now with the IPL in sights, such a possibility seems very likely. But some of the state associations have said that unless they get the funds from the BCCI and the franchise it will be impossible for them to stage an event of this magnitude.

The board’s current members believe that the Supreme Court will step in to release the funds needed for conducting the games at the different venues. But the concern that is giving them sleepless nights is if the state associations try and interfere with the IPL.

The CoA and the associations have been at loggerheads from the time the Lodha Committee recommendations were implemented with many losing their office, therefore, the BCCI officials are not ruling out a possibility of a backstab.

What’s next?

We have to wait and watch how the state associations stage the games and whether they indeed interfere with the tournament. The way things have been lately you can never rule out an interference.

Sportskeeda’s take

The IPL is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world and if the state associations try to scuttle the games, it will tarnish the image of the BCCI and Indian cricket all over the world. Therefore everyone should come forward to make this edition a success.